The Tourism Authority of Thailand is calling on tour operators to promote the peak holiday month of January after predicting a tough month for the destination.
Speaking at the launch of a new training video for agents, TAT marketing manager, UK &Ireland, Chris Lee said: “Our biggest concern is January – that people will stay home over the millennium. The first few weeks of January are going to be a difficult time. January is usually the strongest month for Thailand so we must act quickly.”
Lee said two-year 1998/99 worldwide Amazing Thailand campaign had been successful with arrival figures up 31% or 100,000 in 1998 with tourism revenue up 59% on the previous year. “I’ve been staggered by the growth, another 16% in the first half of this year,” said Lee. “We will see it drop but it will definitely be well over the 6% growth target at the end of ’99.”
The tourist office has replaced its Amazing Thailand campaign with its 2000 slogan ‘Time for Somewhere Timeless’ spending £200,000 together with its partners last month alone.
Lee added: “We’ve had two really good years so we have to look carefully at how we can boost 2000. We will have to talk long and hard to our friends in Thailand to make sure they [hoteliers] keep prices down.”
Lee added that tourism to Thailand would be receive a significant boost with the launch of the movie The Beach, which was filmed in Thailand and is due to be released winter ’99.